March 17, 2012

An Alabama native who left the US to fight with the al Qaeda pledged al Shabaab group in Somalia has issued a video in which he claims the group may now be trying to kill him. Omar Shafik Hammami -- calling himself "Abu Mansour al-Amriki" --- has appeared in several propaganda videos speaking on behalf of the al Qaeda affiliate. He speaks briefly in English starting around 43 seconds in.

Farewell.... Goodbye....

UPDATE by Rusty: I've transcribed the English portion of the video below. An Arabic speaker tells me that he says essentially the same thing in Arabic. Here it is:

To whomever it may reach from the Muslims I'm Abu Mansour al-Amriki.

I record this message today because I feel my life may be endangered by Harakat al-Shabaab al-Mujahideen, due to some differences that occurred between us regarding matters of the sharia and matters of strategy.

Also, I'll note that the video was uploaded today by a user calling himself somalimuhajirwarrior. Could this be his YouTube channel? It seems likely that it's either his or one of his close associates.

Notice the flag that he flies behind him. That's al Qaeda's flag. So, whatever differences he may have with al Shabaab, it doesn't sound like he's renounced his essential commitment to al Qaeda. Which is odd, given that al Shabaab officially joined al Qaeda just a few weeks ago. Some are even now calling them al Qaeda in East Africa (AQEA).

A European intelligence source recently spoke to me about the Somali situation and said Al-Shabaab has become very suspicious when it comes to foreign fighters. Some fighters – especially from Kenya and Ethiopia – had been accused of being spies and were executed. Perhaps Hammami is now facing a similar fate.

That would explain a lot.

UPDATE: Nothing showing up on Google News about this yet. However, trying to find some story with the Arabic parts of the video translated I came across an article that reminded me about something I hadn't thought about in some time.

UPDATE: I found this at a Kenyan source. It was published hours before the video was released, so there might be something to it:

Al-Amriki differed with [the spiritual leader of al Shabaab Ahmed] Godane over suspicious circumstances in which foreign fighters in the ranks of Al-Shabab were dying or being killed in combat, the highly-placed source said.

''We had information early today saying that two foreign fighters, Al-Misri and Salah-Udin - a German, were arrested and detained on the orders of Godane,'' the source told The Jackal News. The two fighters were inquiring from the leader of the rebels about the suspicious circumstances under which the jihadists were being dying, the source added.

This is indeed an interesting development. If nothing else, it means that there is some kind of discord going on within the ranks of al Shabaab. The kind of discord that Hammami believes could get him killed.

UPDATE: Interesting, his once loyal supporters and fans over at AMEF have removed the link to the video that was posted there just two hours ago. Apparently the central node of the English language online jihadosphere wants to keep what appears to be red-on-red violence out of sight and out of mind.

So see there, they are guaranteeing al-Amriki's security, I bet he feels so much better. Just turn yourself in Bro. Surely the Muslims are merciful to the Muslims and harsh with the Kufr. Just trust them. No?

Senior Al-Shabaab official tells local Somali media that Omar Hammami will face sharia justice over his unIslamic behavior.